K Line car carrier M/V 'HYPERION HIGHWAY' makes her maiden call to the Port of Hambantota, Srilanka. Port News K 'Line car carrier with a load of vehicles from Japan called at the Port of Hambantota, Srilanka recently, the company said in its press release. The vessel M/V 'HYPERION HIGHWAY' with an LOA of 199.5M and a cargo capacity of 7,700 units, discharged 523 units from Japan for domestic use. A plaque exchange ceremony was also organized on board between Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), the agents for the vessel M/V 'HYPERION HIGHWAY' ABC Shipping (Private) limited and the Master of the vessel, to mark the occasion and to commemorate the maiden call of M/V 'HYPERION HIGHWAY'. The Japanese owned shipping line, K Line's contribution towards the Port of Hambantota has seen an improvement compared to last year especially with the transshipment volumes from India to Gulf Ports.

Centre Mulling Dollar Debt to Fund Infra Projects New Indian Express The Central government is considering borrowing in US Dollars from financial institutions to fund major infrastructure projects like inland waterways and port infrastructure, according to Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari. Delivering the Indian Maritime University’s second convocation address, Gadkari said that borrowing in rupees resulted in an interest rate of 12 per cent per annum from financial institutions while taking a loan in US dollars would result in only two per cent interest charge per annum. “We will be taking loans in dollars for key infrastructure projects like port infrastructure,” he said. This year, the government is planning to develop three major ports, including Colachel in Tamil Nadu, Sagar Island in West Bengal and Dahanu in Maharashtra. The government is also planning to develop 70 of the 1,300 islands as tourism hubs to create jobs for the youth. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

DP World terminal at India's biggest port reopens after protest JOC Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal reopened to partial operations this afternoon after striking employees forced a temporary halt to all shipping activities at the DP World facility by staging blockades at entry gates on Sunday, adding to the trade woes that had already been building at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s busiest, public, container gateway. Shipping sources in JNPT told JOC.com that the private terminal shut down at the beginning of the second shift Sunday. NSICT, one of four container-handling facilities in JNPT, has been troubled by work slowdowns over the past three weeks. The strikers are pushing for wage improvements and better working conditions. “NSICT has been facing protest from a few employees due to certain demands. This industrial unrest has affected our terminal operations further in the past 24 hours, which went beyond our control,” DP Nhava Sheva told.

Gujarat comes out with policy to help Alang ship-breaking industry Economic Times Gujarat government today announced `Ship Recycling Policy-2015' to give a boost to the ship recycling industry at Alang, Asia's biggest ship-breaking yard which is passing through a slump. Chief Minister Anandiben Patel announced the policy. "The state government has decided to implement a new policy for consistent development and uplift of ship recycling industry at Alang where more than 1.50 lakh people get direct or indirect employment," she said in a statement. Finance Minister Saurabh Patel said the state government and Gujarat Maritime Board formulated the policy to promote the industrial activity at Alang. The policy extends utilisation period of ship-breaking plots to 10 years from five years, and provides for resizing, readjustment, realignment of the plots to enable accommodation of bigger vessels in a safe manner. The policy will be reviewed after three years to ensure its practical implementation, he added.

Goods exports decline 14.75% in December to $22.29 bn Business Line Goods exports from India declined for the thirteenth consecutive month in December 2015 falling 14.75 per cent to $22.29 billion, compared to last December, as the turmoil in the Chinese economy and a continued slowdown in the global market shrunk demand. The trade deficit during the month widened to $11.66 billion as imports declined at a lower 3.88 per cent to $33.96 billion. Non-oil imports, in fact, increased in December 2015 by 7.63 per cent to $27.30 billion, with a near trebling of gold imports to $3.80 billion. “The trend of falling exports is in tandem with other major world economies such as the US, the European Union and China where exports have fallen by 10.30 per cent, 10.83 per cent and 6.94 per cent respectively in October 2015,” according to a Commerce Ministry release. Fall in exports in India in December is spread across all major sectors including engineering goods, petroleum products, gems & jewellery,... Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Rail union plans secret ballot in February on strike Business Line The All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF), which claims to represent the majority of the transporter’s 13 lakh employees, has threatened to go on “indefinite strike” if its demands, such as review of the national pension scheme (NPS) and filling up of the large number of vacancies among others were not heeded. “We will conduct a secret ballot on February 11 and 12, to decide the date and future course of action (on strike),” AIRF General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra told reporters here on Monday, adding that if employees voted in favour of an indefinite strike, “we will go for it and accordingly a date would be announced.” Mishra said about 2.5 lakh posts, including those of loco pilots, assistant station masters and track men, were lying vacant. Meanwhile, in support of the demand of the joint committee of all Central government employees, Railway staff in all State capitals plan to sit on a three-day dharna from January 19-21...

Paradeep Port cargo up 5% in Apr-Dec Business Standard Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) has recorded 5.23 per cent growth in its total cargo in April-December period of 2015-16. The port's cargo traffic in the period rose from 52.39 million tonne (mt) to 55.13 mt. The port handled 1156 ships compared to 1064 ships in the year-ago period. PPT has taken a slew of measures which has ensured improvement in productivity of ship days from 17,289 tonne in 2014-15 to 19,856 tonne in the period under review. The port recently declared its facility of CQ-1/CQ -2 and South Quay for handling Baby Cape ships up to 260 metres length, beam with 43 metres and draft of 14.5 metres. The port infrastructure like road and railway and drainage system is accordingly being realigned to augment the cargo handling capacity matched with the discharge /load rate of baby Capesize ships.

Dredging for Inland Water Transport Link Begins New Indian Express Following the Government’s proposal to develop an inland water transport (IWT) linking Kalinga Nagar industrial area, Paradip Port, Dhamara Port and Talcher, the authorities have started dredging work in river Tantighai, Kharasrota and other rivers. “We have started dredging work in river Tantighai to spruce up the river and make it navigable to build a temporary terminal at a cost of `47 crore in Earada,” said Avinash Roul, Deputy Project Director of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Bhubaneswar. “Some villagers of Earada and its nearby areas recently demanded compensation in lieu of their land as they have land near the river. We along with the officials of the district administration are trying to sort out the matter”, said Roul. “The water levels of some of the rivers were not adequate to run a cargo vessel for which we will properly dredge the rivers up to a depth of three metres to the make rivers navigable for vessels carrying 3000 tonnes”, he added.

Iran sanctions lift-off: 'India-Kazakh transport corridor can become operational' Business Line A multimodal freight link between Kazakhstan and India through Iran can “technically” be operational once sanctions on the Islamic Republic is formally off. Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India, Bulat Sarsenbayev, said here at the MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry that the rail link until the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas was already established. However, he said, there were certain bottlenecks that needed to be removed. “Kazakhstan railway authorities have given mandate to Adanis to work for two terminals at Mundra and Bandar Abbas. They are now doing the due diligence on the proposed projects”, Kazakhstan Ambassador said. He said that Kazakhstan might consider buying or having on lease rent such assets. Sarsenbayev said that the rail link could currently carry two to three million tonnes of freight annually. “This capacity is proposed to be upgraded to eight to 10 million tonnes. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

India ranks third on world emerging markets logistics index: Agility Live Mint Climbing two rungs by overtaking Brazil and Indonesia, India ranked third in an emerging markets logistics index for 2016, which rates countries based on business environment. The report, which was released on Monday, ranked China and the United Arab Emirates first and second, respectively. The index ranks 45 leading emerging markets using three metrics. Size and growth attractiveness make up 50% of the overall index score, while compatibility and connectedness each account for 25% of the overall score. The index findings use data on economic output, project growth, financial stability, population size, market access and business regulation, foreign direct investment, market risk and security threat along with country’s domestic and international transport infrastructure, and look at how well they connect.

India's exports growth unlikely to improve due to weak global demand: EEPC DNA The growth in India's exports is unlikely to improve in coming months as global demand is expected to remain weak, experts on Monday said. The fall in exports, particularly in the engineering sector for several months in a row, is worrying, Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said in a statement. "Exports are a crucial component of GDP and overall job-creating activity, and the onus must now be on the finance minister to be liberal with export incentives without waiting for the Budget. February end will be too late," it said. Richa Gupta, Senior Director, Deloitte, in India too said trade situation is not likely to gain traction. "Overall, we do not see the trade situation improving much in coming months as global demand is expected to remain weak. Export revival would also be difficult as other emerging markets try and export their way out of the latest slowdown," she said.

Chinese firms eye opportunities in Indian maritime sector Money Control “The shipbuilding companies in China are looking out for business opportunities in India as the latter has a long coastline and growing shipbuilding sector. The shipbuilding sector in China is saturated and it is presently facing slowdown. India has a huge market in the shipbuilding sector and Chinese companies have the capability to build ships and meet India’s demand,” remarked Ms. Le Hongxia, Chairman, Global Trade Union and Chairman, Yangzhou Juneng Export and Import Company, in her keynote address during an interactive meeting with the business delegation led by her. The interactive meeting was jointly organised by MVIRDC World Trade Centre (WTC) Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI) at World Trade Centre Mumbai. Speaking about the Global Trade Union, Ms. Hongxia said the body was set up in Hong Kong in 2010 to provide a platform for Chinese companies to explore commercial ties with their counterparts abroad. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Biggest issue of 2016? Consolidation JOC “To quote Albert Einstein: ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” So wrote Michael White, president and CEO of Maersk Line North America, in one of 150 executive commentaries in The Journal of Commerce’s January 2015 Annual Review and Outlook. For sure, as 2015 opened, global supply chain interests may not have imagined just how disruptive the year would be, despite the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers already being more than six months into contentious labor talks and with sporadic disruption already hitting West Coast ports. Though the contract was resolved early in the year, the residual impact lasted well into spring, and importers and exporters lost billions of dollars in sales and damaged product. The Federal Reserve said the dispute likely contributed to the 0.2 percent decline in second-quarter U.S. GDP. Without doubt, it became the story of the year.

Economy may grow at 7.9% next fiscal: India Ratings Business Line The Indian economy is expected to grow by 7.9 per cent in the next fiscal and may progress at a similar pace over a couple of years extending beyond 2019, India Ratings & Research (Ind—Ra) said today. “Ind—Ra expects the gross domestic product (GDP) to expand at 7.9 per cent in 2016—17 compared with 7.4 per cent in 2015—16. “After bottoming out in 2012—13, it believes the GDP so far has followed a steady growth trajectory and is expected to do so even in the medium term”, the agency said in its yearly growth projection outlook. It added that the various macro parameters show that India has and is likely to perform better than its peers in the near term. “India still remains a growth story. The population dynamics is extremely favourable for India. Even though the consumption demand is seen up, investment demand is still slow. Most of the investment growth is largely by government. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

First vessel arrives at Zuari terminal, Kochi The Hindu Underlining Kochi port’s emerging status as a cement hub, the first vessel with a consignment of 7,612 tonnes of cement arrived at the Zuari Cement bagging terminal here on Tuesday. Cochin Port Trust chairman Paul Antony, deputy chairman G. Senthivel and secretary Gowri S. Nair were among those present when the ship anchored at the port. Cochin Port Trust sources said that two full-fledged cement terminals were in operation at the port and the third one is operational now with the arrival of the cement vessel. The two terminals in operation belong to Ambuja and Ultra Tech Cements and Malabar Cements is in negotiation with the Cochin Port Trust for obtaining six acres for a cement bagging and clinker import facilities. Penna Cements has begun construction work on its cement bagging facility. The three terminals now in operation are capable of scaling up their throughput to five lakh tonnes of cement each year, Port Trust sources said.

Slowdowns hurting shippers at India's biggest container port JOC Long truck lines and gate congestion that flared up off-and-on last year have come back to haunt shippers and ocean carriers using Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s biggest, public container handler, according to trade updates issued by local logistics services providers. The Container Freight Station Association of India, which represents all off-site storage facilities in the harbor, in an advisory on Tuesday said all three terminals in JNPT are facing lengthy truck queues. “Traffic towards the terminal approach way at the JNPT area is spanning over seven miles, and is extremely slow moving,” Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Seva) said in a notice to customers. “We shall not be responsible for delayed movements, if any, on account of traffic or such reasons out of CFS (container freight station) purview.”

Static Cargo Ships Between Europe and North America Show Global Slowdown New Indian Express In yet another indication of a major economic slowdown, trade activity between Europe and North America has literally come to a standstill, with container ships between the two major continents remaining either anchored or in-port. “The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its waters. Instead, they are anchored. Unmoving. Empty,” according to a blog post in The Dollar Vigilante. “For the first time in known history, not one cargo ship is in-transit in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America. All of them (hundreds) are either anchored offshore or in-port. NOTHING is moving,” says New York-based website www.superstation95.com. The Baltic Dry Index, an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea, slid to a fifth consecutive record low on Monday on economic worries over China and a surplus of vessels, reports Reuters.

Madras HC stays apple imports from Nhava Sheva circular Business Standard The Madras High Court has granted a stay against a notification by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) restricting imports of apple only through Nava Sheva port in Maharashtra. The order was issued on a petition filed by a batch of eight importers in Chennai. Eight importers, including from the South Indian Fresh Fruit Importers Association, have filed the petition alleging the DGFT notification revises the policy condition to restrict import of fresh apples through Nhava Sheva Port in Maharashtra. As a result, the importers in Chennai were not able to import fresh apples, which has been contracted and dispatched, through the Port of Chennai. "Incidentally, some importers in Cochin Port had moved Hon'ble High Court of Kerala challenging the notification wherein the Stay of the notification was granted and pending.

Logistics cost must be brought down: VPT Chairman Business Line The logistics cost in India is too high at 18-19 per cent of the product cost and it has to brought down to the international average of 7-8 per cent for Indian goods to be competitive in the international markets, according to Visakhapatnam port Chairman M.T Krishna Babu. He was speaking at a session on port-led development at the CII Partnership Summit which concluded here on Tuesday. He said the Andhra Pradesh Government was planning to establish a number of new ports along the coast to stimulate economic growth but connectivity with the hinterland should also be improved. Evacuation of cargo from the ports was of the essence, he pointed out. He said Visakhapatnam port had undertaken a number of projects to augment its capacity and efficiency and the PPP projects were under progress satisfactorily, in spite of some initial issues.

Goa proposes jetties to augment inland waterways Times of India Goa government will submit a detailed project on floating jetties in the state to revive the inland waterways, on the lines of its usage during the Portuguese period. "Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, during his recent visit, had informed the state government that we can submit the proposal for floating jetties which would be cleared with Central government fund. Before March this year, the proposals will be sent," chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the Legislative Assembly during Question Hour today. Parsekar was responding to a question by BJP legislator Glenn Ticlo about the use of inland waterways, like during the Portuguese time, to reduce the load of vehicular traffic on the roads.State tourism minister Dilip Parulekar, initially responding to the question by Ticlo, said his department and the river navigation department have already initiated...

CMA CGM improves North Madagascar port coverage Port News CMA CGM Group's Indian Ocean Feeder North will extend its coverage to Nossi Be and Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) in addition to Majunga, the carrier said in a press release. First vessel will be m/v HH SOUTH, calling at Longoni on January 27th, 2016. The Indian Ocean Feeder North will connect with Swahili service at Longoni hub, allowing a faster and easy connection from Europe, Mediterranean, India and Middle East Gulf to Indian Ocean "North Zone". The fortnightly service is operated by CMA CGM with one vessel of 738 TEU nominal capacity. Port coverage is the following: Longoni - Moroni - Mutsamudu - Nossi Be [alternate call] - Antsiranana [alternate call] - Majunga - Longoni. Marseille-headquartered CMA CGM was founded in 1978 by Jacques R. Saadé. Today the French company has become the world’s third largest container shipping group and number one in France operating across the world’s oceans.

Adani to drop anchor in AP Times of India Having established several ports across the country including Gujarat, the Adani Group is now eyeing Andhra Pradesh as its next major destination. According to a senior official of the group, the Adani Group wants to develop ports in Andhra Pradesh with a total capacity of around 100 million tonnes, which is likely to require an investment of around Rs 10,000 crore during the next few years. While the group is yet to sign any specific MoUs with the AP government, it is likely to participate in bids for development of three minor ports planned by the state government. Speaking to TOI, Adani Group director Gudena J Rao said, "The Adani Group wants to develop a capacity of 100 million tonnes in Andhra Pradesh. We are also going to bid for the Bhavanapadu Port being promoted by the AP government." Referring to the investments, he said, "Ports with a capacity of 100 million tonnes translates to an investment of around Rs 10,000 crore."

Broker’s call Business Line As detailed in our recent report, we expect the shift of north-bound volumes of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to the Gujarat ports to restart soon and possibly accelerate. With increased relevance of inland transportation cost for shipping lines (other costs have declined) and with DFC still some time away, the decision to continue offloading north-bound cargo at JNPT would be contested. The shift of 0.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) from JNPT can support 1-3 per cent outperformance of Gujarat ports versus the sector in the next few years. The recent exim line addition of Shipping Corporation of India to Pipavav port is a weekly service to Gulf region (started from December 22). The service involves smaller vessels (half the length and one-fourth the capacity of the typical 6,500 TEU capacity vessels associated with GPPV).

Focus on project exports like advanced nations Times of India Andhra Pradesh industrialists should concentrate on exporting projects, as that is the policy adopted by the advanced countries to make their presence felt in international markets, chairman and managing director of EXIM Bank Yaduvendra Mathur said. Speaking at a plenary session on 'Driving Prosperity Through Port-Led Development' at the three-day 22nd CII Partnership Summit on Monday, Mathur said that India had already advanced USD 19 billion to 65 countries with the condition that they should import 75 per cent of their project needs from India. The Modi government had made available USD 10 billion for advancing to African countries with the same condition, he disclosed. He said the AP government had signed an MoU with the EXIM Bank for such project exports and this should give a boost to the manufacturing sector in the state to go for project exports.

Hasina keen to restore rail connectivity with India: Min Nyoooz Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is keen to restore rail connectivity with India, which was snapped after the 1965 Indo-Pak war, and has agreed to give access to India for use of its Chittagong and Mongla ports, a state minister said today. Tripura Transport and Power Minister Manik Dey, who met the Bangladesh Prime Minister in Dhaka yesterday, said she was keen to restore the rail link and expressed her satisfaction at improvement of trade and business between the two countries through border haats and Land Custom Stations (LCS) through Tripura. "She also assured us that there was no problem in access to Chittagong and Mongla ports and asked officials to cooperate with India in constructing a bridge on river Feni in South Tripura district to connect Chittagong with Southern Tripura," Dey said.

Govt to boost exports of chemicals, plastics The Hans India The Centre is working with manufacturers of chemicals, plastics and allied products to boost their shipments as it expects the segment to play a major role in achieving its vision of $900 billion exports by 2020, a senior official said. "We are working closely with the chemicals, plastics and allied products industry players and implementing strategies to exploit the opportunities for investments and increasing Indian exports," B S Bhalla, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said here. "With the new and simplified Foreign Trade Policy 2015 in place, we are confident of making Indian products as the most competitive globally," he added. Chemicals, plastics and allied products will play a major role in achieving the government's vision of raising exports to $900 billion by 2020, Bhalla said.

Use crane barges seaward of docked ships to ease congestion: expert Sea News One solution to LA-Long Beach container congestion - and perhaps elsewhere - is to bypass the terminal infrastructure using crane barges to load/unload on the seaward side of ships while docked at the quay. That's the view of Dubai container handling consultant Praveen Raveendran, who has helped clients in Australia, India, Russia and UAE with cargo handling problems. Writing in IHS Media, Mr Raveendran said this will ensure containers go directly from a container freight station to the ship using a container crane barges (CCB). "CCBs will pick up containers from a container freight station [CFS], berth along the sea side of a vessel in port and load and unload containers directly to and from the vessel," he said. "All vessels in port could be serviced in this manner. Each CCB is expected to cost around US$20 million, with the cost of the operation around $90 per TEU,

New IMO secretary-general sets out his agenda Seatrade Maritime Kitack Lim of South Korea has issued a message outlining his priorities as incoming secretary -general of the International Maritime Organization, a post he assumed on January 1 following endorsement of his mid-2015 election by member states at the IMO Assembly in November. After paying tribute to his predecessor Koji Sekimizu and fellow IMO senior officials, Lim noted that IMO “currently faces an array of issues” in order for shipping to continue to meet the needs of the world “in a safe, secure and sustainable way.” These challenges could be met through what he called his “vision” of strengthening partnerships – between developing and developed countries, governments and industry, IMO Member States and regions, he said. “I will also endeavour to strengthen communication between the maritime industry and the general public,” he added. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Shipping ministry to seek cabinet backing to wind down port rate regulator Live Mint The shipping ministry will seek the cabinet’s approval to amend a key law to wind up the tariff regulator for 11 of the 12 state-owned ports, days after an expert panel questioned the need for such a body. The panel headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar, formed to review and revive public-private partnerships in infrastructure, in its report made public on 28 December called for scrapping of the Tariff Authority for Major Ports. Such a move, the report said, will allow these ports to usher in a market-driven pricing regime and put them on par with private ports that are free to set rates. The unpredictable rate regime has dampened investor interest in these ports. “The government has taken a final decision on winding down Tamp,” a shipping ministry official said asking not to be named. “We are moving ahead on that. The cabinet note is almost ready on scrapping the rate regulator,” he said.

Kandla Port to get upgrades, new container operator JOC Mumbai-based J.M. Baxi Group is reportedly the final bidder for a public-private-partnership contract to upgrade, operate and maintain existing container terminal infrastructure at the Port of Kandla, a major, state-owned port complex on India’s west coast. Port sources told JOC.com that the group, through its subsidiary International Cargo Terminals and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., offered a revenue share of 10.44 percent from the revamped facility as annual royalty to the landlord port. The port authority developed the container-handling facility at berths 11 and 12 through a 30-year concession awarded to ABG Kandla Container Terminal, a joint venture between domestic infrastructure firm ABG Infralogistics and Singapore’s PSA International, in June 2006. ABG held a 51 percent stake in the endeavor.The port trust is expected to issue an official statement on awarding of the new contract shortly.

Chennai Port eyes 25% rise in rail shipment of containers Economic Times Aimed at stepping up its operational efficiency, the Chennai Port Trust plans to raise shipping of containers through the Railways by 25 per cent, a top official said here today. The Port Trust last year (2014-15) handled 1.50 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). As of December 31, 2015, it was 1.20 million TEUs. "Currently, about seven per cent of shipment of containers are handled by the railways. We expect that to increase by 25 per cent," Chennai Port Trust Deputy Chairman Cyril V George said. He was speaking to reporters after flagging off the first batch of containers through trains operated by the Gurgaon-based Distribution Logistics Infrastructure (DLI). "We flagged off the first train service to Marigold CFS (container freight station), Bengaluru. There is a potential to ship 2.50 lakh containers a year," George said. Trains will be operated from Jawahar Dock on the port premises.

Port Development To Propel Andhra's Growth: Chandrababu Naidu NDTV Andhra Pradesh will have port-led development with focus on export manufacturing, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Monday. If information technology and knowledge economy was his mantra for development of Hyderabad as the then chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, this time coastal development tops his agenda, he said. Unveiling his vision before the investors and captains of industry at CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, he vowed to make sunrise Andhra Pradesh the most preferred destination for investments. The 974-km-long coastal belt and a central location on east coast is the state's biggest advantage. Stating that the ports of Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam are doing very well, Mr Naidu said during the current financial year the state will become number two to Gujarat in handling cargo.

Nepal keen on routing cargo through Vizag Port The Hindu Steps would be taken to declare Visakhapatnam Port as an alternative EXIM gateway for Nepal, a trade delegation from that country announced on Monday. The delegation was impressed by the facilities available at the Visakhapatnam Port and the assurance of being allocated a separate yard to facilitate customs handling. The delegation was led by Minister for Commerce Deepak Bohara, Nepal Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadyaya, and Joint Secretary Pokhral. Visakhapatnam Port Trust Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu, in his presentation, explained the existing facilities and infrastructure of the port and said that the port had spent nearly Rs.5,000 crore for modernisation and expansion during the last few years. With the ongoing developments, the port’s capacity will be enhanced to more than 125 million tonnes from the current level of 93 million tonnes.

Krishnapatnam Port signs MoU with Andhra, Petrogas for LNG project Business Standard Krishnapatnam Port Company announced on Monday an agreement with Petrogas Pvt Ltd and the government of Andhra Pradesh for setting up a regasification terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG). Krishnapatnam is a privately built and operated port in Andhra’s Nellore district, about 190 km north of Chennai. It is 92 per cent owned by the Hyderabad-based CVR Group. Petrogas is a joint venture of Isomeric Holdings, Malaysia, and Vijayawada-based LEPL Ventures. Petrogas will investment Rs 3,000 crore at Krishnapatnam for the LNG terminal. The latter’s capacity is to be five million tonnes and then be doubled over the next three years. Commercial operations will commence within three years, said Krishnapatnam. “The infrastructure story of Andhra Pradesh is set on a promising horizon and projects of such scale will provide significant boost to the country’s trade potential” said Chinta Sasidhar, managing director at the port company.

Govt-industry tie-up can bring faster anti-dumping action Business Standard There is no point in complaining that the authorities in the US and European Union move faster than their counterparts in India in introducing anti-dumping duties on products that could harm domestic industries. But, as commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman says, ahead of any anti-dumping action research and inquiry on it take up to 18 months. Scrutiny leading to anti-dumping measures relates to establishing beyond challenge that the targeted exporting country was indulging in direct and unapparent subsidisation of products with the objective purpose of selling these abroad. New Delhi admits in the intervening long period between the filing of an application by a domestic industry to the designated authority in the department of commerce and the levy of anti-dumping duty by the finance ministry that much injury could be caused to the industry constituents concerned. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com